One of the best things about reliability engineering is the never-ending opportunity to learn. As a reliability engineer I work with materials, assembly processes, and people, creating and maintaining products, machines, and systems. Other engineering disciplines tend to focus on one aspect of a design or process.

Mechanical engineers make allowances for the circuit board location and heat transfer requirements yet do not work on the circuits themselves. Electrical engineers do just the opposite: They focus on electronics and power and attempt to fit within the constants imposed by industrial designers. Maybe architects are close to the breadth of reliability engineering as they contribute the aesthetic and functional elements of a design, and, although they consider the maintenance and longevity of the building, they are not involved with the actual aging and maintenance.

Within each of the engineering and management fields with which a reliability engineer interacts resides a lifetime of learning possibilities. Reliability engineers have a significant body of knowledge unique to reliability engineering, yet this knowledge overlaps with nearly every other function in an organization. Material science alone provides an endless array of materials and constructions, each plagued with unique failure mechanisms and manifesting different aging properties.

In essence, as a reliability engineer I have to learn enough to determine how and when an item will fail. That takes experimentation, observations, and analysis. Take, for example, an item such as a bearing. Bearings are complex devices with moving parts subject to wear. They have seals and tolerances, undergo assembly processes and maintenance procedures, and are subject to various failure mechanisms. Use of new lubricants, metals, and designs to reduce friction continues to evolve, presenting me with the need to keep up to date on current industry trends. And, of course, bearings wear out, and we all know that the mechanisms responsible may not be that simple. Some wear out before others. Herein lies another opportunity for me to learn.

I work with other people and influence them to take actions that will improve the durability of a product or system. My recommendations based on what I have learned about the failure mechanisms may run counter to the designer or managers goals. They may want to start production and not wait to address my recommendation. They may want to avoid the added initial cost as they are not concerned directly with the maintenance costs the customer will incur. They may not understand the science or math behind my recommendation. They may provide resistance to my recommendations.

However, working with people offers another opportunity to learn. It teaches you how to prepare arguments, create persuasive presentations, generate acceptance, and change minds. You can learn the science of human resistance and motivation. You can learn the factors that influence decisions and develop techniques to listen and understand others, while being sensitive to their concerns and recognizing their motivations and ambitions.

I have found that working well with others and improving my skills of influence has been critical to my success as a reliability engineer. Good statistical knowledge only goes so far. Being effective requires being an effective communicator.

How do we learn all this without becoming full-time students? I would suggest that we become lifelong students and expand that idea of “learning something every day” to “always learning.” Let your curiosity grow and learn from every encounter and every experiment. Read and read more. I recently learned that someone who reads 400 books a year is a power reader. Become one. Ask “why?” a lot. Continue to ask questions that may or may not be answerable.

In the Artist Way at Work, one of the exercises is to spend at least an hour a week doing something on your own, exploring an interest, a curiosity, or a possible passion. For example, if you wanted to learn glass blowing, take a class, visit a workshop, and learn. If you wanted to explore the manufacturing of jelly beans, visit a jelly-bean factory, find online tutorials, and continue to ask “Why is it done that way?”

The ability to feed our curiosity tends to increase our curiosity. It is that kind of mind that finds and understands failure mechanisms. The ability to learn also increases our awareness of others, enabling us to determine whether they are supportive or resistive to our  recommendations. As we expand our ability to influence, that too continues to expand and grow if we continue to learn from every encounter.

There is no limit to what we can learn in a lifetime. If we stop trying we impose a limit. Maybe the first thing to learn is curiosity; the second is how to learn.

Bio:

Fred Schenkelberg is an experienced reliability engineering and management consultant with his firm FMS Reliability. His passion is working with teams to create cost-effective reliability programs that solve problems, create durable and reliable products, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce warranty costs. If you enjoyed this articles consider subscribing to the ongoing series Musings on Reliability and Maintenance Topics.